9/02/2011

Frame Up (1991)

Something
is rotten in the small town of Orton Creek, California. Some fraternity
punks, during a particularly mean-spirited initiation, kill a young
pledge. The evil leader of these sadistic ne’er-do-wells is one Don
Curran (Hodges). Fearing for their futures, they pin the murder on
traveling salesman Frank Govers (Picardo). Govers gets wind of what’s
going on and, because of some misdeeds in his past, takes his young
girlfriend Lee Ann (Fairfield) and they go on the run.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Ralph Baker is on the case. Hoping to escape the
noise of Los Angeles, he moves with his young daughter to Orton Creek.
He runs into trouble when he realizes the town is under the control of
land developer Will Curran (Sargent) - a man just as evil as the
aforementioned Don, his jerk of a son. Seeking justice, Ralph teams up
with fellow law enforcement officer and love interest Jo (Westlake) and
they attempt to get to the bottom of the whole sordid mess. But will
they do it?

Wings puts in a strong, likable performance and has good screen presence
here. Frame-up is not really an action movie, it’s more of a drama.
It’s decent, even if it seems a bit “made for TV” at times. Apparently
it warranted a sequel at one point in time, but it was never really
released. I guess we’ll never know the continuing saga of Ralph Baker.
Sidebar: Does Wings really look like a guy named “Ralph”?

You really hate the frat boys (except for the token “weak link” kid that
wants to tell all to the authorities – you know these guys go in for
some hard core hazing when they force the pledge to eat a lizard. Eat a
lizard! And it’s alive. Next thing we know, the kid is inexplicably
covered in feathers and running down a hill. I know. We don’t get it
either. But as they warned, he may never become a “true bro”.

As far as Dick Sargent is concerned, perhaps he, in 1991, really wanted
to shed his “Bewitched” image, so we are treated to the sight of seeing
this classic 50’s TV star wearing acid-washed jeans and cursing like a
sailor. But he gives a nice “boo-hiss” bad guy performance.

The Robert Picardo subplot is pretty influenced by the Peckinpah film
The Getaway (1972), and he and co-star Heather Fairfield do a nice job,
especially Fairfield.

Overall, Frame Up is decently entertaining and Wings fans will want to
seek it out for his solid performance and the fact that this is one of
his lesser-known vehicles.

Man, you're putting me to shame, I think this is two Wings flicks since my last one. This looks like the kind of one that you get to after you've done a lot of his better ones first-- to make sure you're rally a Wings guy, but why wouldn't you be? Great stuff.